Don't get caught in an emergency situation and not have phone #s

-- Taz (Tassie123@aol.com), November 26, 1999

Answers

Very good point, Taz. Your 911 call center may be listed under your local police department or sheriff's office as "Communications." If the power goes out, emergency generators will keep things humming for a while (in our city's case, two days), but if the consoles go out due to glitches, then communications will continue via hand-held radios--for as long as the batteries last. You might also locate your nearest paramedic and/or fire station in case you cannot contact emergency personnel via phone.

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), November 26, 1999.

And don't forget to have a bag of quarters in your "72 Hour Kit"/Bug- Out Bag: The first system the phone company brings back up is the pay phone system (it's the designated emergency phone system) (due to the fact that everybody -with money- has access to it...or due to the fact that the phone company needs $? :)

-- Paul D. Law (Dennis) (PaulLaw@aol.com), November 26, 1999.

And finally, don't forget to grab yourself an old (comforting) rotary dial, pre-digital, pulse phone (or a phone that allows you to switch to pulse vs. tone) because routng of rotary-dialed calls may still be possible where computer malfunctions cause digital/tone based calls to fail.

Squirrel Hunter >"<

-- SH (squirrel@huntr.com), November 27, 1999.

In addition to the emergency numbers mentioned above:

Write down the familiar numbers and addresses that you store off the top of your head {family & friends, doctors & dentists-maybe}. Stick a copy if your 'go-kit'.

Take it from one who's been there-- if you're caught in an iffy spot, the old noggin doesn't work like it usually does.

This is good prep in general.

-- flora (***@__._), November 27, 1999.